Thoughts Run Rampant
by Nautica7mk
Summary: Clark, Lana and Chloe go out to dinner in Metropolis. While there, they have an unexpected surprise.


**Title**: Thoughts Run Rampant  
**Author**: Nadia Mack  
**Rating**: PG  
**Disclaimer**: I Own Nothing  
**Author's Notes**: The title is just me proclaiming that the following written Fanfiction was done out of the blue and presents no real direction and/or plot. It was in my head, all mixed up and present in my mind. So what's a girl to do? Yeah, I jotted it down. Hope it wasn't a complete loss.

"Hi Clark," Lana approached him breezily. "Chloe and I are headed to Metropolis this weekend. Would you like to come?" she asked. High school is almost over and she felt they should end the year on a high friendly note.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he replied hesitantly, their relationship has always been very sensitive, he often never knows how to appropriately have a conversation with her.

"Come on, Clark. For old time's sake," she pressed.

For the life of him, Clark couldn't think of a time they did anything on a regular basis. He turns to her and nods marginally.

"Okay," he answered with a weak smile.

Thankfully, Lana didn't notice the subtle action. He wasn't in the mood to contemplate the meaning of his life if he had gotten into another talk with her about the complicated and disappointing things that happen to them.

_A Japanese Restaurant, Metropolis_

Walking into the restaurant decked in a red buttoned up plaid shirt tucked underneath khaki pants, Clark looked between Chloe and Lana, and then the rest of the crowd and felt extremely underdressed.

They failed to mention having to go into what clearly looks like a high class expensive restaurant.

"Umm…" he leaned towards Chloe. "What are we doing here?"

"Lex made reservations for Lana as a graduation gift," she revealed in a lowly whisper. The elegance in the restaurant was overwhelming, even for her.

His brow furrowed, underlying affliction crossing his face. "So why are we here?" he asks her with a whisper of his own.

"I guess she didn't want to come here alone." She tugs on his arm. "Look, I think the host is ready to seat us"

"Isn't this exciting?" Lana asks in delight, glad to share this experience with friends, despite their history.

The hostess seated them first before a waiter approached to receive their orders. They decided first on appetizers.

Clark looked wearily at the menu, the prices beside them making him nauseous. Why did he let her talk him into this? He guiltily didn't want to be here, but at least he got to spend some time with friends.

He looked over to Lana and saw her in deep concentration.

"Lana, are you okay?" Clark couldn't help but ask.

She looks up from her menu and smiled. "I don't read Japanese," she confessed, dropping the menu on the table. "I haven't got a clue what to order"

Chloe gave out a bemused smile. She knew how much Lana was a perfectionist so seeing her out-of-place sometimes can be amusing. She takes out her cell from her purse.

Lana looks at her confusingly. "What are you doing?"

"Calling Lois," she answered casually.

Clark's eyes shot up, his face expressing the same confusion as Lana's. "Why are you calling her?" he asks worriedly. Having dinner in Metropolis with Chloe and Lana were one thing, but he was hoping he'd have a Lois-free weekend as well.

"Relax, Clark, I'm just going to ask her about the menus"

"Why would she know anything about the menu?" Lana asked curiously.

Chloe smiled brightly, knowing full well the knowledge she was about to disclose would no doubt surprise them.

"Aside from the fact that Lois loves oriental food, she knows how to read them too," she explained proudly. She truly looked up to her older cousin.

"Lois speaks Japanese?" Clark replied skeptically. Impossible. Lois Lane. That can't be.

"Fluently," Chloe added, giving the fact more weight.

"Are you sure we're talking about the same Lois Lane that's living in my house and invaded my space?" Even with his super hearing, he couldn't have heard her right.

Chloe just shushed him into silence as her cell began doing its numerical magic. She waited anxiously for her cousin to answer on the other line. Clark faintly hears a click… and after a moment, a familiar voice.

"Chloe? Are you okay? You're not in trouble again are you?" were the first words coming out of her mouth. Chloe laughed as Clark tried to suppress a grin. Lana looked at him oddly.

"What's with the look, Clark?"

He looks at Lana, totally forgetting that she was there and that the volume of Chloe's cell wasn't loud enough for any human to hear. "Oh, nothing, I was just thinking"

"About what?" she asked.

"Nothing important," he shrugged off. Lana cast her eyes away, disappointed that even after four years of knowing one another; he still didn't feel he trusted her enough to confide in her.

Just then, Clark realized the Chloe was in an animated discussion with her cousin on the phone.

"Hello!" Clark intruded and raised his menu.

Chloe got the hint and went back to what originally called her for. "Hey cuz, do you think you can help us out with the menu here?"

"Sure, what restaurant is it from?" she replied easily.

"Benihana's"

"Wait a second… the Benihana's on 75th street?"

"Oh, you know it." She heard Lois chuckle across the line. "What?" Chloe wondered aloud, garnering weird looks from her companions.

"I'll be right there," she answered.

"Be right where?" Now Chloe was confused.

"Cuz," she says coolly. "Look up"

"What?" And when she looked up she saw her cousin, one hand on a rail and the other still holding her cell to her ear. Chloe's mouth goes slightly agape, and she instinctively waves at her with one hand.

Clark and Lana looked at her with confused expressions, but when she looked past them, they followed her gaze. Up on the second floor balcony leading up to a separate room, they saw a woman they didn't realize was Lois Lane until they took a longer look at her.

"Lois!" they both say simultaneously when they realized who it was.

Up on the balcony, Lois shook her head with a grin when she heard and saw their expression. Chloe still had the phone on, and with the decent reception, she heard them clearly.

Back on the ground floor, Clark was completely floored by her appearance. Gone was the sloppy ponytail, blue jeans and jackets that has made it comfortably known around the Kent Farm, and in its place was a vision of her he hadn't ever imagined existed.

She wore her hair down and wavy, looking a little darker than he was used to seeing her in. Her black low-cut dress fit her curves perfectly, like it was designed with her in it. The aura of elegance and style surrounded her like a fog, and it engulfed him mercilessly.

"That's not Lois," he pointed to her, but Chloe just smiled at his boyish reaction.

Lana on the other hand saw his face as he saw Lois descend down the stairs and towards them. If she didn't know any better, many things were going on behind his blue eyes, and she couldn't help but be envious of the obvious connection that he and Lois unknowingly share.

"Hey little cousin," she greeted with gentle affection. Chloe Sullivan would probably be the only human being in the world that receives that honor, well, besides his mom anyway.

"LOIS!" Chloe greeted ecstatically in return as she hugged her. "What are you doing here?" She eyed her dress and hair in approval. "Hot date?" she added with a glint in her eye.

Lois chuckled at her excited reaction. "As a matter of fact, I am," she admits truthfully.

Clark is once again floored. "You're here? On a date?" With the obvious room they all shared, the space around him suddenly felt like closing in.

Lois gives him a gratifying smile. "Yes, try not to choke on your on shock there, Smallville. Plaid Industries would lose their most prominent client and then what would they do," she quipped easily.

Riling him up didn't take a hell of a lot of effort because now he looked at her ready to return fire.

"Children," Chloe seeped in to play referee between them for the hundredth time. "Be nice"

Clark forced himself not to say anything while Lois just gives him a satisfying smirk. God, she could be so frustrating sometimes. But as quickly as Lois can annoy him, she turned her attention to Chloe, practically turning into a completely different person.

Chloe hadn't been joking; Lois can really speak Japanese, quite well too much to the surprise of Clark and Lana. She pointed out what type of meals there were and what ingredients and side orders came appropriate with what. She made recommendations and she rarely hesitated.

"You guys all right with the options?" Lois asked, carefully making sure they all understood.

"If you need anything or want anything specific in your order, just ask for Darien, the chef, he'll do pretty much anything with a plate so long as there are ingredients in his kitchen"

"You know the chef?" Lana asks impressed.

"I'm sort of a regular," Lois slowly revealed. She looked up to see her date waiting on the balcony.

"Lois, is he your boyfriend?" Chloe suddenly asked. She knew all too well of her cousin's deliberate use of privacy when it came to her love life. She's worst when it came to secrecy that even Clark because she hides it better.

"If I said yes would you promise to keep your insatiable curiosity to a minimum?"

Chloe giggled in excitement, Lana was relieved she was seeing someone and Clark looked like he was just sucker punched in the gut with Kryptonite.

Lois has a boyfriend.

"Here, I'll introduce you," Lois says, grasping her cousin's hand before turning her attention to Clark and Lana. "I'll bring her right back," she says with a wink, pulling her towards the stairs and up the balcony.

Clark kept his sights trailed on them as Lana looked on.

"Well, that was a surprise," she commented in hopes to get Clark talking.

"Yeah," he answers softly, his eyes never leaving the cousins.

"So I'm guessing by everyone's reaction, no one knew Lois has a boyfriend"

"You kidding me," he remarked sarcastically. "I didn't even know she was capable of dating"

Lana was taken aback by his outburst. She's never seen him act like this toward someone, let alone a female, but she's starting to learn that his 'sort of' friendship with Lois Lane has given him an outlet of emotions that neither she nor Chloe could apparently provide.

"I kind of always wondered what else is there to know about her." When Clark glanced at her curiously, she continued. "I mean, we all know how much Chloe means to her, and from what she told me, she doesn't really get along with her dad. And then there's the whole Lacey…"

"Lucy," he corrected.

"Right, Lucy incident… is it true that you didn't even know she had a baby sister?"

Clark nods.

"See, that's what I mean"

"What are you getting at, Lana? You want to know all her secrets too?" He didn't mean to say it like that, but the words just flowed out of him like a raging river. Now it was too late, the damage has been done.

"You know what; forget I even bothered having a conversation with you," she regretted even asking.

"Fine," he replied, more than happy to end the conversation that always led nowhere. He sat back down in his seat and waited for Chloe's return.

After 10 agonizing minutes in complete and utter silence, Chloe finally came back.

"Well…" he began, waiting for Chloe to finish.

"Well, what?"

"How'd it go with Lois and her… um…" he couldn't make himself say it. The word seemed sour in his mouth.

"He's really nice, very handsome. He's studying premed"

"Premed?" Lana repeated. "Wow, Lois aims high." She had to admit, Lana envied Lois' confidence and freedom.

Clark would glance every once in a while upstairs. He could hear Lois enjoy her company and having a good time. It's strange seeing her that way, so carefree and without burden that he's wondered why she doesn't let her guard down with him as often as she does around Chloe, and even his parents.

Smiling to himself, he was going to make it his own personal project to get Lois to open up to him more. Besides, deep within his mind he knew that if there was anyone in the world that can surprise him, it'd be Lois.

**The End**


End file.
